CVI ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



1492, the year in which the last one was consecrated in Europe for 

 Greenland. The sad fate which overtook the country was then hemming^ 

 it in, for the bishop never reached his diocese. In the archives, too, I 

 saw and had copied the minutes of the consecration of a certain Bartho- 

 lemew, as Bishop of Greenland, on the 24th of September, 1434. 1 refer 

 to these facts to show beyond all doubt that both Columbus and Cabot, 

 and all scholars of the period, were well aware of the position of Green- 

 land ; the voyages to it were not "vague traditions" but facts of their 

 own time, Tarducci thinks Cabot ran along the cast coast of Greenland 

 to the 66^ degree, without recognizing it ; that might have happened to a 

 navigator 150 years later, when Greenland had been forgotten, but it 

 could not have happened to Cabot. 



1^0 doubt the religious disruption of the sixteenth century, by which 

 Norway was separated from communion with Rome, following after the 

 invasion of Greenland by pirates, is the reason this latter country was 

 lost sight of for many years. 



Discoveries went on during all the ages ; gradually the horizon of 

 human intelligence, as well as that of the visible world, was broadened, 

 and made more clear. We are met to-night to celebrate a discovery 

 of surpassing interest to us. It is the basic fact on which our charter 

 of rights, our title deeds to this land rests. The- man, or rather the two 

 men who gave England a vast colonial empire, are worthy of consider- 

 ation both in themselves and because of their achievements. 



In commemorating the discovery made by John Cabot on these 

 shores, the Eoyal Society has not committed itself to any conclusion as 

 to the precise spot of the landfall ; neither has it denied or affirmed the 

 proposition held by some, that the discovery was made in 1494. We 

 commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the setting up of the 

 English flag on these western shores, and the formal act of taking posses- 

 sion of the country in the king's name. Beyond question this was done 

 in 1497. We associate with this, the discoveries of 1498, which may be 

 looked upon as the complement of the voyage of 1497. It is necessary 

 to make this explanation lest the action of the Eoyal Society should be 

 misinterpreted or misunderstood. Individual members have our views as 

 to the exact site of the land first seen ; like a patient mother in the 

 midst of her children, the society will listen to our arguments, perhaps 

 smiling aj^proval at our cleverness, but committing herself to none of 

 our theories. She will be as silent, but less soulless than the Sphinx. 



Whilst comparatively little is known of the history of John Cabot, 

 very much has been written concerning his landfall. In this way there 

 is no dearth of Cabotian literature. It is not my purpose to review it in 

 detail. Each writer (we speak of studied works, not of hastily written 

 sketches) has contributed his share tOAvards the elucidation of the ques- 

 tion. The archives in London, Madrid, Venice, Milan and elsewhcio 



